Stop Comparing and Start Living!

30 of 45 Moments of Wonder

Do you ever find yourself looking at someone else’s life and wondering why that isn’t your life? Humans seem to have this need to compare ourselves to others. She is more successful than me. He has a family that adores him…why doesn’t my family love me like that? They have the jobs I want to have. Look at their house! My house is so small in comparison.

We even compare our difficult times…Her life is so hard and she still manages to get up and do something productive with her day. My life isn’t half as hard but I can barely get out of bed. What is wrong with me?

When we compare ourselves to others, we will always lose our joy. We are robbed of the joy that comes from living our lives exactly as we are meant to live them. We are robbed of the moments of overcoming struggle that teach us more about how to live and be successful than anyone else can teach us. Steve Furtick made a keen observation when he said, “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” In other words, let us remember that when we compare ourselves, we are not entering a fair contest. We only see what others want the world to see. But we know our daily struggles, the good days and the bad.

I think social media has made it virtually impossible for us to compare ourselves with others. We can’t change the fact that it exists. But let’s be realistic when we observe the curated lives of our friends and acquaintances. Let’s remember that we are only seeing the parts of their lives they want us to see.

And let us never forget that someone out there is looking at our curated lives and thinking, “why can’t I be more like her?”